Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Working up some more sketches for up coming projects, had a hard time though… the 'ol art wasn't flowing like I wanted it to…. needs more practice.
Working on an idea… just at the idea stage here…something is wrong with his head for sure!
After I warmed up a bit, this side view came out better. I think this "Token Tiki" could be on his knees? Maybe…

Then, I had this weird dream last night, and this one image was stuck in my head so I had to get it down on a paper.
I was listening to the Stray Cats yesterday, so the "Don't cross my path" phrase was in my head.
Then, I had a dream about the Night Marchers (Local Hawaiian Ghosts) and how a friend of mine sez her house is right on one of the
"Paths" of the Night Marchers, So she does these "precautions" to keep every thing pono in her house.

Anyway's, The phrase "A black cat crossing the Path of the Night Marchers" was put together while I slept, and I woke up
mulling it over all day. Then, as I was driving home from some where, I remembered my wonderful M.C. Escher book.
So I thought, that's what I'll try! Do a Low-Brow / Tiki-Art version of M.C. Escher's "Ascending and descending" lithograph.
So I'll make it in the jungle, all tiki-fied tiki-hut like, with the night marchers walking forever up, and …a black cat crosses their path
On a big ol' log that has fallen across their magical path. Kind of animated…I like that.
Funny, huh?
Still, needs a BUNCH of design work on the night marchers. These are very rough, skeletons in a 1930's cartoon style, with tiki heads?
Hmmmm ….needs work.
I've wanted to paint them for a long time but could not find a hook on them.
I was just happy to get the idea down on paper at least.
More to come!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
So, I'm working on my design of the night marchers , now that I have an idea how to design a painting of them.
I though each should have their own light source (which will make for a dynamic night time scene, although complex).
So torches… tiki torches? Or there is a flower on the Big Island called a Torch, so I thought what if they could have those torch flowers that glowed like real torches?
Might look mighty swanky.
Plus I really need to work on my token tiki designs for the night marchers. They gotta be really great looking. '
So here a study. Perhaps one of many to come for this painting.
More laters!
ALOHA!

WAAAAAAAAAAAT??!?!?
Masterful..simply masterful....
i owe all the chops i got from doing studies of Brueghel,Durer,Blake,Hokusai,etc
Seeing you apply your Penultimate talent to the masters
with Escher this time
is AWESOME!
Sometimes ,when that desert,that Dark night of the Soul,Spirititual Dustbowl happens
it's just a mild recovery and BAM! Some Night Marchers and a Dream
and some Heavy Plodding and BAM!
This one is gonna be great..
Take your time and savor it
Take a leisurely pace
Consider it one of your laurels
from two Incredible friggin laLuz shows!
This one is gonna be a goodie!
You could work a series out of this one
and the fact that Escher has both that artistic and graphic sensibility
it's a perfect pairing...
i can't believe you got inspiration from a Stray Cats song....
I'm so jaded it takes Vivaldi's "Stabat mater" to rile me up...

Anyways,after you tackle this Escher
I'd like to see a Piranesi inspired Treetop Dank Cannibal Tree Village Please!
See you in about a week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LLT - Thanx for the kind words! I'm jazzed you dig the way this one is going. I'm pretty excited too that I finally figured out a
interesting way to show the Night Marchers. It's really fun figuring out ESCHER'S work. His personal notes on "Ascending and Descending" are
really bleak…about how we walk forever up-stairs trudging on and on, getting no where. Or we can turn around and scamper down stairs …also going no where at all.
M.C. sez:

Boy, M.C ESCHER was totally the introverted, & depressed artist we all are! HA! Yet what a genius! I think he was even alive long enough to have his work become very
popular with the hippies in the 1960's. But, he was kinda' freaked out the pot-smoking flower children were grooving to his Art. Hmmm. Typical! Huh.
If mine works out with the illusion intact, I'd be thrilled if Art patrons broke out the Mai Tais, or the paca-lolo, and really grooved on looking at it. That's my goal actually.

OK….
On my own endless path to no where in Tiki-Art world.
One step at a time.
I had to work out just exactly what my "Night Marcher's Endless Path" would look like.
Here it is…
I think that will work.
It's gonna' not be brick, but more Tiki-ish.
Somehow, because they are supernatural spirits that often kill the poor living folks who foolishly stumble onto their path, I guess, I don't seem depressed that they are marching forever up, or down.
However, I think I'm gonna have them going only one way… up.
I just had to get the thing to look like it was endless.
More Laters!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here's the "endless path of the Night Marchers"…
I think It'll have Diamond he'd in the Back Ground so you know it's Hawaii, and a tiki bar in the
lower right so you know it's… ah…me.

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here's the first placement of some trial figures of "Night Marchers" on the endless Pathway".
These are not the final design by a long shot…but gives you an idea how they might look.
I think They have to be smaller to fit more on.
M.C. 's figures are quite small.

_________________Brad (Tiki-Shark) Parker
www.tikishark.com
Remember to RAWK ON & BE MOST EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Going through some designs for the Night Marchers, I was looking at few designs I did
for Menehunes, and some of them could work, or be adapted to be "Night Marchers".
Here's one…
and another one…
This one was from a dancing design...
This was the long ear tiki from "jungle Witch"...
This is a ghost light - a burning ball of green to blue fire -
that are often seen in the jungle on the other side of the island.
Here's "The Menehunes only come out at Night" .
More to come...

Thanx Wendy!
ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!
Okay so working on my next painting.
The working title is "A Black Cat Crosses the Path of the Night Marchers".
Still unsure of the size other than it will be larger than 24" x 30"
So it's a painting about "The Night Marchers". I wanted to do a painting about them for years, but just wasn't skilled enough to tackle it.
I also didn't have an idea that would help express them visually. Then I had a dream about it - in the dream my friend was telling me about how she thinks her house is right on one of the paths of the "Night Marchers". And music by the Stray Cats(which I was listening to before I went to bed). the phrase "Don't Cross my Path!" stuck in my head, made it's way into my dream. Then, I thought of the endless paths/stair ways of M.C. ESCHER. It all clicked into place, or at least, it started to.
So... I want their path to be a M.C. ESCHER endless stair way.
I worked out what that would look like. Added in things to let you know it's in Hawaii (like Diamond head, & the Big Blue Pacific, & a Tiki Bar).
I tried out some figures on the endless path. Walking up.
Not up and down like M.C. ESCHER's amazing "Ascending and Descending" 1960 litho.
The question came up as to how many Marchers should I paint on this path?
I chose 8. In this drawing there are seven, but I think I'll add one more.
Why 8?
Because there are 8 major islands in the Hawaiian chain. (Then, of course, there are many, many, others that string out some 1,500 miles into the big blue Pacific. 137 "islands" total: This includes all minor islands, islets, and atolls.)
But 8 major ones.
7 of which have people living on them.
So I'll do one Marcher for each major island.
Because each island is so different, it will help me design 8 different looking Night Marchers.
Each marcher would have visual aspects that reflect the island they're representing.
Like the "Big Island of Hawaii" Night Marcher might look like one of the "Lava Menehunes" (in my painting "The Menehunes only come out at night".)
BECAUSE, it's the only island that has active volcanic activity.
The "Molokai Marcher" might look a lot like a skeleton because in ancient Hawaiian lore they thought that Island was inhabited only by evil spirits.

More laters!

_________________Brad (Tiki-Shark) Parker
www.tikishark.com
Remember to RAWK ON & BE MOST EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here some more work on "A Black Cat Crosses the Path of the Night Marchers"
Last episode, I decided on 8 marchers, one for each major island in the Hawaiian island chain. So
To know what was what I drew up a map of the islands.
Here's one Marcher… not really hooked up to an island yurt, just a "Marching" pose being worked out.
'
This ones a bit more worked out. I think I'm not gonna tell you which marcher matches which island.
Leave that up tot the imagination, as each are so different.
Here's a third Night Marcher. with "Torch floor and Prehistoric Shark Tooth War club!
Starting to get some nifty detail.

You show all these cool drawings and then you disappear for 17 days. Where are you? Oh, maybe you are in Southern California for the art gallery show. Hummm, time for photos of the show. Wendy
_________________

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Sorry I was off-Island for my art show at La Luz De Jesus Gallery:
Here's some pics !
I got the green room this time - very swanky - big thanks fro Curator Matt Kennedy and owner Billy Shire!
I had shipped most my art ahead and it was already hung!
I get goose bumps every time I hang at La Luz De Jesus Gallery- it's the world famous Birth place of the Art movement I work in and love - Low-Brow!"
It wasn't the show I wanted to put up, but there were a lot of good pieces, and it was very well received! Big Thanks to my hard core patrons and fans! Big Mahalo!!
The Gallery Also displayed my new Tiki-Towels - Who Hoo!
The show was very classy looking - thanx Billy!
I even got to show off the new Skate Decks! These came out really spectacular and I'm excited to see what happens when they hit the retail stores next season!
Did I say the 4th was a strange day to hold an opening? And yes the HARD CORE fans showed up!
…and mama Tiki Shark of course!
If filled up, not the usual shoulder to elbow room only for an opening, but it was nice you could actually see the art!
Great time, and all but two pieces sold that night!
Great to meet friends I had not seen in a while, and meet folks I only knew from the net!
Great crowd, all came looking for the Tiki-Art. I really dig how Billy hung the skate decks!
I was so happy that one of my oldest mentors showed up! He was very pleased to see one of his students making it this far into the art world.
And let's not forget the Gallery was fully stocked with Tiki Mugs and Calendars And other Brad Tiki-Shark Parker Swag!
Right now I think it's the last place you can get a full set of the rare "Body Glove Set of 3 Tiki-Mugs"!!
The less then over crowded amount of folks made it possible for me to take questions about my art and what each piece meant!
The Owners of Body Glove Came Out - and Jenna helped me demonstrate how art is really made!
And , of course, for a shot of courage , I could always slip next door to the Tiki Ti !!!

They build an altar to my tiki -art and summer stuff!
The 4th of July is a strange night for an opening, so the crowd wasn't the usual shoulder to elbow room only, but a lot of die -hard tiki fans showed up!
Tiki Al and I had a loud Aloha Shirt contest!
All my Ohana got Aloha Style hugs if they wanted them or not!
Other big time Tiki Artists showed up like LLT - aka Kenny!
I got to show my terrible man-crush I have on Kenny in front of the whole world!
Here's what some one called the Three Kings of Tiki Art - (L to R) Some guy, Kenny Ruzic and Big Toe Aka Tom Laura!
Tiki Tribe Who come to the Gallery get a FREE copy of my home town paper where I made the front page in a battle over the rights to my art work!
It was a great show, and an honor to hang at the "La Luz De Jesus Gallery" - Big BIG Mahalo Billy Shire!!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Once Again I have to say a big Mahalo to Billy Shire for all his guidance and support on my path as a low-Brow Tiki-Artist.
Hanging at La Luz De Jesus Gallery is a mile-stone in my career, and a huge honor.
What happened later, after the opening, was even more exciting. The curator called my agent and said a European Collector had placed a larger bid on one of the already sold pieces. Seems this collector is big-time, and heavy-duty. This might introduce my work into a new realm of the Art World.
My Agent, of course said, "What? A Big Time Art collector from Europe? Hmmm… Sure! Brad will paint another one for the first buyer and we'll make it all work out no worries!"
And happily enough it wasn't a problem. The first buyer was one of my first mentor's and he was only too happy to see his student raise a bit higher in the art world - as it reflects well upon him by cranking out such well received off spring (as it were).
"The Red Tiki Lounge"
24" x 30"
Acrylic on canvas.
Still don't know who this European Collector is. Seems he never only purchase one piece, and then (I would hope) shows off his new "discovered" tiki-artist's work to his other horribly wealthy European Art-collector friends. Oh, I can imagine some swanky cocktail party, in a giant manner house, or maybe a castle, and a cool suave Art Collector describing "The Red Tiki Lounge" to his friends… "This artist… he lives on a active volcano! …and sez he only paints what he sees!" But, like da' guy would say it in French ya' know!

European, hmmm…. I guess that means they look like this?

Anywho...

Big Aloha!
Try to swing by La Luz before July 27th and check it out!
ALOHA!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Still working on things in my sketch book during my travels. I have my 8 night marchers to match the 8 major islands of Hawaii still working around in my skull, but while that was happening, this "Rawkin' Maori Warrior" also came out onto the page: